Domestic gas plant



March 27, 1928.

- A. L. CLARK DOMESTIC GAS PLANT Filed Ngv. 9, 1926 INVENTOR ATTORNEY fl fus L; g/ark V Patented Mar. 27, 1928..

115 rrs AUGUSTUS L. CLARK, F MONTPELIER, VERMONT.

DOMESTIC GAS PLANT.

Application filed November 9, 1926. Serial No. 147,354.

The object of my invention is to provide a domestic gas plant of relatively simple and inexpensive construction which does not require a large plant for its operation but which is of suitable size to permit of its use by individual householders and which is capable of manual o )eration. It is an especial object of my invention to, eliminate some of the mechanism required in prior plants in this art.

I attain the different and other objects of my invention by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying sheet of drawing,' showing a perspective view of th apparatus.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, I provide a small domestic heating apparatus 1 of any suitable size, the one illustrated being ft. by 3 ft. by 2 ft. one of the principal purposes of this invention being to provide an eiiicient apparatus of relatively small size as shown in the drawing. I provide a gasifying retort 2, a mouthpiece or damper 4: and a door or lid 3 on top through which the charcoal or coke is supplied to heat the retort. The retort is made in two sections, an upper section and a lower section which are bolted together in addition to which there is an air-tight door. I provide a pipe 5 leading from the retort to a hydraulic tank 7. Tank 7 is a small tank about two-thirds full of water, the water level being indicated in the drawing by a dotted line. Pipe 5 extends into hydraulic tank 7 to a point three-fourths of an inch below the water level. I provide a manually operated valve 6 in pipe 5. out of hydraulic tank 7 is a pipe 8, provided with a pressure gauge 9, leading to a gas exhauster .11 which may be a manually operated gas exhauster. I provide a valve in pipe 8 in n'oximity to the gas exhauster 11. I provide a pipe 12 leading from exhauster 11 into the holder 13 and terminating in a plane above the water level 1% in said tank. of a stationary tank section 18 and a telescopic inverted top section 15, provided with a plurality of guide arms 16 which extend downward outside of the walls of tanlfv 13, in slidable contact therewith and functioning also as weight elements for the telescopic section. The telescoping section is approximately similar in length to stationary section 13 so that inside section 15 will still extend to a plane below the water level 14 when the holder is well filled with gas. I

Opening The gas holder 13 consists provide pipe 17 opening outof holder 13 in the retort 2 after the retort is hot. The

door of this retortis air tight and after the fuel has been placed in the retort the operator turns the handle whichv drives the gas exhauster 11, at the same time observing the pressure gauge 9 to see how fast to operate it. For-the purpose of making gas Imay, how ever, use any waste grease or old oil available as it can be successfully made into gas for heating and lighting purposes. For this purpose waste automobile oil can be put into a piece of gas pipe with a'cap on one end of the pipe and the other end open. A piece of waste may be stuffed into the open end of the pipe after being filled with the'oil. The pipe of oil is then placed in the retort with the end containing the waste adjacent the rear end of the retort 2 so that the waste will burn out and the oil will be gasified as it comes to the front of the standpipe 5. Oil for making gas may be admitted with the coal or wood used as a fuel, also for making gas in the retort. ThusI distill coal or wood and waste oil, making thereby a mixture of combustible gases as well as producing coke or charcoal in the retort tube.

The gas flows through pipe 5 into the hydraulic tank 7 being released below the level of the water in that tank to purify the gas. From that tank it is drawn through pipe 8 by operation of the exhauster 11 and conveyed tl'irough pipe 12 into thetelescopic gas holder 13 where it may be collected for future use as required. Pipe 17- which extends into the gas holderto a point above the water level 14 conveys the gas from the gas holder to the purifierbox 18 and from purifier box 18 through pipe 19 to the various parts of the house where it is to be used for heating or lighting purposes.

After a desired quantity of gas has been produced by gasifying the waste oil in the manner already described the valves 6 and 10 are closed and the coke or charcoal is removed from the distillation retort 2.-

It will be understood that the telescopic I sired, the larger gas holder 13 may be made as large as deit is made the greater the amount of gas that may be stored. The plant is capable of being operated withna comparatively small amount of relatively inexpensive material.

\Vhat I claim is- 1. In a domestic gas plant capable of manual operation, the combination of a small domestic heating apparatus, a distillation retort heated thereby and adapted to receive material from which the gas is to be produced, a small hydraulic tank, a valvecontrolled pipe leading from the retort into the hydraulic tank below the water level of said tank, a manually operated gasexhauster, a valve-controlled conduit leading from the hydraulic tank to the gas exhauster, a gas holder, a conduit leading from the gas exhauster to the gas holder, an outlet pipe leading from the gas holder, a purifier box into which said pipe leads, the gas holder having a telescopic inverted top section, said top section having a plurality of arms affixed to the outer walls of the top said heating apparatus section and engaging over the outer wall of the lower stationary section to suitably and telescopically engage the top section in operative relation to the bottom section.

2 A domestic 'g'as' plant capable of manual operation having in combination, a domestic heating apparatus, means for feeding from the top thereof, a, retort mounted directly on and heated by said heating apparatus said retort having a door, a hydraulic tank, a valve-controlled pipe from the retort to the hydraulic tank and terminating at a point below the water level of said tank, a gas exhauster, a manually operated valve controlled conduit from the hydraulic tank to the gas exhauster,v a telescopic gas holder having a telescoping section provided with guide arms of nearly equal length to the aforesaid telescoping section, a conduit from the gas exhauster to the gas holder, an outlet pipe from the gas holder, a purifier box with which said outlet pipe communicates, and a gas outlet pipe from the purifierbox. V

AUGUSTUS L. CLARK. 

